We want to embrace the belief that the more we talk openly and freely about our mental health and wellbeing, the more help people receive and the less 'taboo' the subject becomes. With this in mind, let me start the week off with my own experience...

We are sending the weekend email out earlier than normal because next week you will be getting a daily dose of SMASH emails  As it is World Mental Health Awareness Day on Wednesday, and SMASH is all about physical and mental wellbeing, throughout the week we will be sharing personal stories regarding mental health and our perspective on this vast subject.

Sam here, wishing you a very happy weekend!! I can't believe it's already been a week since the marathon.... and I must say I am only just starting to feel like myself again! There is a weird combination of feeling amazing and also feeling slightly lost - I have all this spare time in which I would usually be running!  

September has well and truly arrived and in the fitness industry we call this time of year 'The 2nd New Year'. At this time we have a similar buzz in gyms to that which we find in January and February - members setting themselves new goals, re-discovering motivation and setting a routine they can keep to by building habits.

It seems that summer is coming to an end… We tend to get that “back to school” feeling at this time of the year bringing with it the push we need to make changes, let go of the things that are no longer serving us and to try new things.

We hope you have had a great bank holiday weekend? And if it wasn't great then we hope it was at least OK? In this technology charged world, where we are bombarded with happy faces on social media, it can look like everyone is having the best time - every day of the year!

In past emails we have touched on the importance of telling those closest to you how important they are and the impact they have had on your life. It's not always easy for us to talk about our feelings which is why we often say a good way for most to do this is to write it it down for the other person to read. …

What an amazing Saturday we had running the Pride 10k race in Victoria Park! It's now 15 months since I ran my first race and on Saturday I scored another personal best! Since that first race last year I have shaved off 6 minutes from my time and my next goal is to try and get under 45 minutes  As happy as I am with my time, and as much as I could use this email to talk about the importance of goal setting or challenging yourself or taking yourself out of your comfort zone (all very important!), I want to use the opportunity to talk about Pride again

You may have noticed the SMASH team were missing from Friday lunchtime SMASH... It just so happens that both of us were called to important friendship duties... Sam being a bridesmaid to two of her best friends and Ash driving to Germany with one of his!

Positive Affirmations is our focus for this month but what exactly does using positive affirmations mean, and why is it good for us?

We are back from our holiday and we had a great time! We rested our bodies, relaxed our minds and also did some fitness training​. Mostly though, we laughed A LOT! It's so important to have friends who share your sense of humour, friends who you can be completely yourself around, and this is what we had on this break. We laughed so much every day - the best kind of holiday 

Happy Tuesday... We are sending an early email as team SMASH are off on holidays bright and early tomorrow so wanted to send a final email before we go.

Happy PRIDE! 

Today's positive affirmation - I am grateful

How many times have you woken up in the morning and told yourself "ugh, it's gonna be a long day", "I look like rubbish today", "I really don't want to go to work"....? We are all guilty of it and the problem is that we immediately have framed the day in a negative way. So when any negative incidences occur we can tell ourselves we were right!

​This morning myself and one of the SMASH regulars, Rèka, ran almost 13 miles as part of our marathon training plan... although it's the longest she has ever run, she was the one that had to motivate and push me to keep going! I am so proud of her and proud of myself for not giving up despite feeling like I was running on empty...

Hearing how much SMASH means to you and what it has done to help in other areas of your lives really does mean the world. When we set out on this journey we said it would be worth it even if we help just one person...from the responses received we can safely assume we have completed that mission! Now the mission gets bigger....bring on Year 2! 

One year ago we excitedly launched our first ever class... and we haven't looked back since! So much thought, planning and sweat has gone in to making this first year of SMASH the success it has been - and we couldn't be prouder!

One of my flaws is that when I have a lot to do, whether it's in a good way or in an over-loaded way, things can sometimes slip my mind. This is one of the reasons writing things down helps me!! But I recognise this in myself and I accept it… and by now friends and family accept it too.